Spencer Lawton Jr. (July 19, 1943 – November 13, 2024) was an American attorney. He was

district attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, county prosecutor, state attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or solicitor is the chief prosecutor or chief law enforcement officer represen ...

for

Chatham County, Georgia Chatham County ( ) is the easternmost county in the U.S. state of Georgia, on the state's Atlantic coast. The county seat and largest city is Savannah. One of the original counties of Georgia, Chatham County was created February 5, 1777, a ...

, between 1981 and 2008, and for the Eastern Judicial Circuit. He was known for serving as the prosecutor of preservationist James Arthur Williams in his trial for the alleged murder of Danny Hansford.

Early life

Lawton was born on July 19, 1943 in

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

to Spencer Lawton Sr. (1918–1999) and Sarah "Sally" Parker (1919–2017). He was their eldest son. After being raised in

Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and the county seat of Chatham County, Georgia, Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the Kingdom of Great Brita ...

, Lawton moved with his family to Atlanta. He graduated from

Woodberry Forest School Woodberry Forest School is a private, all-male boarding school located in Woodberry Forest, Madison County, Virginia, in the United States. Woodberry's current enrollment is 391. Students come from 34 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., and 36 coun ...

in Orange, Virginia. He began at the

University of Georgia School of Law The University of Georgia School of Law (Georgia Law) is the law school of the University of Georgia, a Public university, public research university in Athens, Georgia. It was founded in 1859, making it one of the oldest American university law ...

(UGA) in 1961. He served in the U.S. Air Force between 1962 and 1966, studying at

Tulane University The Tulane University of Louisiana (commonly referred to as Tulane University) is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by a cohort of medical doctors, it b ...

and graduating with a science degree. He returned to UGA and graduated in 1971, after which he began working for Lawton, Simple and Chamblee, a firm begun by his great-grandfather.

Legal career

In 1976, with his college friend Michael Karpf, he established a firm and practiced general law. In 1981, he became the

for

. Lawton came to prominence as the prosecutor of preservationist James Arthur Williams in his trial for the alleged murder of Danny Hansford, a story documented in

John Berendt John Berendt (born December 5, 1939) is an American author, known for writing the best-selling non-fiction book '' Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil'', which was a finalist for the 1995 Pulitzer Prize in General Nonfiction, and '' The Ci ...

's 1994 book ''

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil ''Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil'' is a non-fiction novel by John Berendt. The book, Berendt's first, was published on January 10, 1994, and follows the story of Jim Williams, an antiques dealer on trial for the killing of Danny Hansf ...

''. Lawton was renamed Finley Largent in the 1997 movie adaptation, a role played by Bob Gunton. Lawton was assisted by Dep Kirkland in the first of the four trials. In 2008, Lawton was named District Attorney of the Year by the District Attorney's Association of Georgia. Upon his retirement, Lawton was succeeded by Larry Chisholm. He later became a journalist for his hometown newspaper, ''

Savannah Morning News The ''Savannah Morning News'' is a daily newspaper in Savannah, Georgia. It is published by Gannett. The motto of the paper is "Light of the Coastal Empire and Lowcountry". The paper serves Savannah, its Savannah metropolitan area, metropolitan ...

''.

Personal life and death

Lawton married Ann Woolner in 2008. They had a daughter. Through his grandmother, he was a descendent of Spencer Proudfoot Shotter (1855–1920), a Canadian business magnate. He was also a relative of Alexander Lawton, a

Confederate Army The Confederate States Army (CSA), also called the Confederate army or the Southern army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fi ...

general and lawyer. Lawton died on November 13, 2024 at his home in

from heart disease at the age of 81.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lawton, Spencer 1943 births 2024 deaths American lawyers District attorneys in Georgia (U.S. state) American journalists Lawyers from Savannah, Georgia University of Georgia School of Law alumni Tulane University alumni